Calcutta, June 7: The lack of adequate infrastructure to handle traffic congestion at the Farakka barrage on National Waterway 1 could be an impediment to NTPC’s 3,300 megawatt (MW) power project at Barh, about 70km from Patna.

The first phase of the project, a 660MW unit, may come up this fiscal. The country’s largest thermal power producer will require 16 million tonnes (mt) of coal per annum and intends to import about 3mt through waterways.

NTPC has mandated the Inland Waterways Authority of India to invite expressions of interest (EoIs) to transport imported coal from the mouth of Hooghly river to Barh, a distance of about 1,000km through National Waterway 1.

The coal will reach the Hadia dock from where it will be transported by smaller barges to Barh. NTPC intends to save costs by around 15-20 per cent by sourcing coal through inland waterways.

However, the barges will have to travel through the Farakka barrage to reach Barh, and the lack of infrastructure to handle traffic has raised concerns of congestion and delay.

NTPC is likely to require about 80-90 barges to transport coal, which might increase to 150 by the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Arun Kumar Sinha, general manager of Farakka Barrage Project, said the organisation could handle 35-40 vessels per month through the navigation lock, with each vessel taking about 2-3 hours to pass through. The organisation hopes to handle a high volume of traffic following the modernisation of its existing lockgate and the commissioning of a new one.

“We are not capable of developing infrastructure on our own. We need technical expertise and support from the Centre,” Sinha said.

The Farakka Barrage Project is under the ministry of water resources.

Vishwapati Trivedi, chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, today said transloading could be significantly boosted with the modernisaion of the Farakka barrage. “We have also proposed a second lockgate that may facilitate upward and downward movement of vessels,” he said.

The Calcutta Port Trust could also earn a significant amount in wharfage charges through the greater movement of coal. The port authorities have set a concessional charge of Rs 15 per tonne for NTPC’s coal carrying vesssels.